However, the recent change of government in Russia and the appointment of Falkov as the new minister resulted in the cancellation of the provocative order. The decision was announced by Falkov during a press conference in Moscow on Monday 17 February.
Falkov said: “We are interested in the development of cooperation on the principles of open science. Russia and its universities participate in all major international scientific projects. We have a special project, dedicated to improving the competitiveness of Russian universities in the international arena. It involves the active development of these universities and their integration into global scientific and educational space.”
In the meantime, although representatives of the majority of leading Russian universities believe the cancellation of the order will provide an impetus for their more active international cooperation, some local analysts believe the fears of scientists were exaggerated, or that the limited presence of Russian scientists in the international arena so far has been related to the weak position of Russian university science in the international arena, including its small number of publications in international journals and lack of patents.
Maksim Rumyantsev, acting head of the Siberian Federal University, one of Russia’s largest universities, told University World News: “Time has shown that the fears of scientists regarding the order and its effects were far-fetched. All the international initiatives which were implemented in our university were completed in time.
“Last year we successfully organised the work of several international schools, as well as several international conferences. In addition, we have successfully completed recruitment of foreign students, while none of the scientific projects involving foreign scientists even noticed the restrictions.”
Quelle: University World News
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